Foreword

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine provides comprehensive education in veterinary sciences for the production of competent veterinarians to serve the society and nation. The faculty was established in 1973 and named the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences as one of the three founding faculties of University Pertanian Malaysia. In the beginning, the Faculty comprised of the Department of Animal Science, Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, and Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences.

Over the years, the faculty underwent several changes in its organisational and departmental structures. After the transfer of the Department of Animal Sciences to the Faculty of Agriculture in 2005, the faculty again restructured by establishing the Department of Veterinary Preclinical Sciences to replace the outgoing Department. At this time, the faculty also took the opportunity to streamline and optimise its teaching, research and professional activities to ensure that graduates of the faculty do not only meet the requirements of the Malaysian Veterinary Council (MVC) but will also provide competent and professional veterinary services to the public. This period also marked the boom of research activities in the Faculty with numerous discoveries on the diagnosis and treatment of major animal diseases of the country, development of molecular techniques in diseases detection, and novel therapeutic regimes.

The faculty also embarked on collaborative projects with the Department of Veterinary Research Institute on avian influenza virus studies. In 2010, the long-awaited University Veterinary Complex became a reality. The complex comprised of the administrative, research and diagnostic wings, and a modern and spacious University Veterinary Hospital (UVH). With the establishment of UVH, the one and only veterinary hospital in Malaysia, professional veterinary services to the public excalated. Now UVH has become a referral centre for private veterinary practitioners and animal scientists in Malaysia. The hospital also provides opportunities for student-training in handling cases, veterinarians to develop and improve their professional acumen, and academics to enhance their research activities. In the new structure of the Faculty, a new diagnostic entity, named Veterinary Laboratory Services Unit (VLSU) was put in place.

The unit while serving as the main laboratory diagnosis facility for UVH also serves the clients from private veterinary practices and researchers from within and outside campus. The faculty was awarded the MS ISO 9001 certification in July 2000 making it the first higher education institution in the nation to receive a comprehensive certification in teaching, research and professional services. On 10 April 2008, VLSU, was awarded the ISO 17025 certification for two testing laboratories, the microbiology and Haematology/Clinical Biochemistry laboratories.

This is unprecedented for an academic institution in Malaysia. 2 In our attempt to make our curriculum and graduates, research and professional services relevant to the current development and wealth creation of the nation, we fostered close ties with the Department of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Malaysia and several other governmental and nongovernmental organisations.

In fact, the Faculty is now recognised by MVC as the main institution in Malaysia to conduct courses for the acquisition of Continous Professional Development (CPD) points required for Annual Certification of veterinarians.